Home ›› 05 May 2023 ›› Front
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), the city development authority, has made it mandatory for the applicants to submit four more documents for getting approval of building plans from next month.
To make the city more resilient and ensure the safety of buildings, an applicant will now have to submit structural, electrical, fire safety and plumbing plans apart from architectural plan, said RAJUK Chairman Anisur Rahman Miah.
“The submission of these documents by all under-constructing buildings or all new buildings will be compulsory from June 1,” he said while speaking as the special guest at a discussion meeting organised by Urban Development Journalists Forum, Bangladesh (UDJFB) in the capital on Thursday.
Before applying for building plan, an applicant needs to obtain land use clearance from RAJUK that requires submission of almost 22 documents. Again for building plan approval, applicants need to submit at least 11 documents. With these, the number of documents will rise to 15.
The RAJUK chairman said additional plans were made mandatory in accordance with the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC). “To ensure the safety of buildings, BNBC has made the engineers engaged for formulating the plans to be responsible to supervise the construction.”
After completion of the construction work, he said, engineers concerned will submit a report confirming that if the building was constructed in line with approved building plans. “Once the reports submitted for clearance (occupancy certificate), RAJUK will scrutinise them and give approval accordingly.”
While speaking as the chief guest, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Tazul Islam said that to ensure safety and prevent such unwanted incidents, there is no alternative but to implement fire safety laws. “And to implement them, a well-coordinated approach from all government agencies concerned is needed.”
Citing the data from Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD), Dr Raju Ahmed of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department at Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology said that electrical disturbances are the prime reason behind fire incidents in the country.
The fire caused by an unknown reason would also be caused by these electrical disturbances, he claimed.
Fire Service Director (Operation and Maintenance), Lt Col Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury said that they have already started reviewing previously identified 1,191 risky buildings.
“We have so far, before Eid, reviewed 58 buildings and 35 of them were found to be high-risk buildings. From early findings, we suspect that 70 per cent of the risky buildings now turned into high-risk buildings,” he added.
In 2018, there were some 100 ponds in the capital that decreased to 27 within five years, he mentioned while explaining the difficulties they face while dousing the fire for not having required water resources.
Chaired by UDJFB president Amitosh Paul, the meeting was also attended by Chief Executive Officer of Dhaka South City Corporation Mizanur Rahman, Prof of Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Jahangirnagar University Dr Akter Mahmud, Chief Engineer
at Dhaka WASA Kamrul Hasan and General Secretary of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Shaikh Muhammad Mehedi Ahsan.
